The Citroen C4 Cactus, a new crossover model, is seen during a presentation at Le Bourget, northern Paris (Image: REUTERS)

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It will be the star of Citroen's stand at the Geneva motor show next month and some time in the autumn it will be on sale here. So what are we looking at? Something very stylish, that's for sure. Stylish and functional.

Those bits of coloured cladding on the sides and front and back are what Citroen calls Airbumps.

They're made from thermoplastic polyurethane and include tiny air capsules that absorb impacts.

The result is fewer dings and dongs from supermarket car parks to be repaired and, therefore, cheaper insurance. Less obvious is the serious weight saving that's gone into the Cactus.

It's a C-segment car, which in plain English means Golf and Focus rival or, in Citroen's own catalogue, the C4. The Cactus has the same wheelbase as the C4 but is shorter and narrower, despite having the same interior space and a useful 358 litres of luggage space.

The bonnet is made from aluminium, as are the front and rear subframes, but the really clever weight saving has been done by leaving bits out entirely or redesigning them.

For example, the rear windows pop out (like the ones on the original Mini), saving 11kg. The rear seat is a single-piece folding bench: kerrching, another 6kg saved.

In total, the Cactus is 200kg lighter than a C4, which means a kerb weight of 965kg.

Citroen have not released details of the engines, but say that they will be small capacity units burning both petrol and diesel.

Even the petrol models will emit less than 100g/km of CO2 and the diesels will be as low as 82g/km, with a combined fuel consumption of 91.1mpg.

The Cactus's interior is just as stylish as the outside. Virtually all the information and controls on the car's Eve it i dashboard are displayed and controlled on screens.

One motoring feature that you do not want to ever see is a passenger airbag that comes down from the roof rather than out from the dashboard.

But one that you will use regularly is Smart Wash, which instead of firing a stream of windscreen wash from jets at the base of the windscreen dribbles a small quantity of fluid from nozzles built in to the end of the wiper arms.